Department of Health

Surrogate Motherhood: Lone Parents

baroness barker: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Shaughnessy on 19 September (HL1420), whether, under the proposed remedial order relating to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008,single people who are unable to provide their own genetic material will be permitted to apply for a parental order following a surrogacy arrangement; and if not, what consideration they havetaken of the potential discriminatory effects of this, in particular against infertile single women.

lord o'shaughnessy: Remedial orders have a very limited purpose, to correct incompatibilities identified in Human Rights legislation. In this case the remedial order is intended to correct the provision in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 that currently only permits couples to apply for a parental order following a surrogacy arrangement, which the High Court ruled was incompatible with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The provision of the Act which requires an applicant to have provided their own gametes to bring about the pregnancy is unchanged by the ruling of the High Court.

Tobacco: Counterfeit Manufacturing

lord maginnis of drumglass: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there has been any assessment made of the health hazards from illicit tobacco products compared with those that are legally produced; and if so, what future impact such hazards are likely to have on the health of smokers under 25 years old.

lord o'shaughnessy: There are no separate assessments made by the Government on the health hazards of illicit tobacco as all tobacco products are harmful. Considerable progress has been made in addressing tobacco smuggling and the reductions we have seen have been achieved through regulatory changes, new sanctions, detection technology and partnership working across government and internationally. The Tobacco Control Plan for England, published in July 2017, set out the continued government commitment to tackle illicit tobacco, including the United Kingdom international obligation to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Protocol on Illicit Tobacco as soon as the required legislation has been approved by Parliament.

Tobacco

lord maginnis of drumglass: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of any positive impact in the overall health of under 35 year old smokers arising from tax and packaging measures that they have imposed.

lord o'shaughnessy: Tobacco taxation is a proven and effective means to reduce smoking and a disincentive for young people to take up smoking in the first place. The Government consulted on the introduction of standardised packaging and published an impact assessment, which included benefits to public health. For the purposes of this impact assessment, the conservative assumption was made that no harm is incurred by smoking under the age of 35, due to the lack of precise data to quantify benefits from not smoking under this age. That said, the impact assessment notes that for every young person who no longer starts smoking for example, life expectancy improves by 2.1 years. The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 came into force on 20 May 2016; the Government has a commitment to review these regulations by 2020.

Abortion: Northern Ireland

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide any additional support to women travelling from Northern Ireland to access abortions in England; and if so, (1) whether financial support will be available, and (2) what expenses any financial support will cover.

lord o'shaughnessy: On 29 June 2017 the Government announced that it will fund, via the Government Equalities Office, abortions in England for women usually resident in Northern Ireland. We are currently finalising details of the scheme and a further announcement will be made in due course.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

baroness walmsley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the waiting time for treatment by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

lord o'shaughnessy: We have introduced a new waiting time standard for treatment of children and young people with eating disorders, setting an expectation that by 2020, 95% of those referred will start treatment within one week if the case is urgent and four weeks if the case is non-urgent. National data on the number of young people receiving treatment within this timeframe in England shows that over 73% of patients started urgent treatment within one week in Quarter 1 2017-18 (206 out of 281 patients started treatment within one week) and nearly 78.9% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks in Quarter 1 2017-18 (1,067 out of 1,355 patients started treatment within four weeks). This is positive initial progress some three years before the 95% level of the standard comes into force. We are also currently exceeding the waiting time standard for Early Intervention in Psychosis, with nearly 75% of patients starting treatment within two weeks in July 2017. The upcoming children and young people’s mental health Green Paper, which will be published by the end of the year, will include plans to improve timely access to specialist mental health services for those children and young people who need it most.

First Aid: Mental Health

baroness walmsley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schools have received mental health first aid training.

lord o'shaughnessy: To date, 280 schools have received training during June, July and September (262 secondaries and 18 primaries) with a total of 401 people trained. We anticipate that over 1,000 schools will receive training by the end of 2017.

Cabinet Office

Non-governmental Organisations

baroness hayter of kentish town: To ask Her Majesty's Government which non-governmental organisations have been established by secondary legislation in the last 30 years.

lord young of cookham: A list of non-governmental organisations established by secondary legislation is not held centrally and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Defence

Iraq: Armed Conflict

the lord bishop of coventry: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number ofcivilians killed during the liberation of Mosul.

the lord bishop of coventry: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to investigate unintended civilian casualties arising from UK participation in the US led coalition airstrikes to liberate Mosul; and if so, what resources they (1) have committed, and (2) intend to commit, to that investigation.

the lord bishop of coventry: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to evaluate the deployment of airpower in heavily populated areas following the liberation of Mosul.

earl howe: UK airstrikes always follow the principles of international humanitarian law: necessity, proportionality, distinction between combatants and non-combatant civilians, and the prevention of unnecessary suffering. The complex and congested urban environment of Mosul presented particular challenges for those undertaking airstrikes as part of the Coalition support to forces on the ground against Daesh. Our rigorous targeting processes take into account the conditions on the ground, including the potential presence of a civilian population. We undertake a battle damage assessment after every airstrike. This assessment examines all the available records including video, and one of its roles is the identification of any collateral damage, including civilian casualties. If any such assessment indicated anything that should be scrutinised further, a full investigation would be undertaken, with appropriate resources allocated to it. Thus there is no requirement for a further evaluation of the deployment of UK airpower in the campaign against Daesh.

Mike Walliker: Gibraltar

baroness harris of richmond: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many meetings the Commander of the British Forces, Commodore Mike Walliker, has had with (1) the Chief Police Officer of Gibraltar, (2) the Chairman of the Gibraltar Defence Police Federation, and (3) the Committee of the Gibraltar Defence Police Federation, since taking up his position inAugust.

earl howe: Since he took up his position, Commander British Forces Gibraltar, Commodore Mike Walliker, has had 20 formal meetings with the Chief Police Officer of Gibraltar Defence Police and four formal meetings with the Chairman of the Gibraltar Defence Police Federation. He has met with both in other forums, in wider meetings with others and informally. He has not had a meeting with the full Committee of the Gibraltar Defence Police Federation.